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So here we are talking about AI chatbots for marketing. If you didn’t know by now, it’s an innovative and growing concept that can bring huge return on brands that use it correctly, so perhaps it’s best to start to get to know more about it.

Did you know that for the first time ever people are using messenger apps more than they are using social networks? So, logically, if you want to build a business online, you want to build where the people are- that place is now inside messenger apps.

According to research on the chatbot market, it’s to grow to reach $1.25 Billion by 2025 and it’s also noted to be one of the most recently effective ways to reduce operational costs.

At Facebook’s F8 conference in April 2017, Facebook’s Head of Messenger David Marcus announced that 100,000 bots had already launched on the platform.

Marcus also announced that the platform had doubled messages between business’ and people to two billion messages a month.

Chatbots are clearly on the rise, so what are they?

Here is a formal description we found online:

Chat bots are combining pre-set scripts and deep learning neural networks, bots can predict an accurate response to a posed question or statement in a way that skips phases of conversation to mimic regular chat…..

Here is the description we prefer:

Chatbot software can help your business by designing multiple scenarios and pre-defining answers according to specific contexts – and with many bot applications out there this service has never been easier to research and implement.

Chatbot software can help you communicate your services, answer enquiries and promote your brand towards customers quickly and efficiently and allow your customers to get answers or things done there and then 24/7. They can greet your users and provide them with conversational interactions as if they were in your place of work/store.

These results are great because we now live in a ‘self service’ tech-world that is much preferred by the current ‘tap and go’ generation. So in that sense we can now provide our future customers with a mobile driven communication strategy that they will be comfortable with and know how to use.

The key to a good chatbot is seemingly to strike a good balance between conversation and helpfulness – an AI shop assistant – helpful and friendly!

Here are a few brands that are striking that balance well.

Duolingo– Duolingo is a language-learning platform that consists of a website and an app, and most recently, a chatbot. The success of the bot is based on the premise that when learning a new language, one of the best ways to master it is through conversation. With over 150 million users, the Duolingo bot helps people practice speaking in a conversational way without fear of embarrassment or judgment.

Poncho– providing you with fun and personalised real-time daily weather updates wherever you are in the world.

Max Factor – Provides make-up advice on products that consumers are asking about in digital channels. The bot posts tips and tricks from the company’s blog, youtube videos or content on facebook to potential clients.

Expedia Allows customers to search, browse and make flight or hotel reservations.

Dominos – choose your size, toppings, sides and pay! Using a robot to take an order rather than a staff member means that no one needs to be paid to provide that service.

Health, Travel, Hospitality, Banking.. these sectors and more are all staying ahead of the curve with this one, have you thought about using a bot for your business?

Has your Instagram page stopped performing?

Are you just not getting anymore followers, likes or the audience engagement you used to?

Instagram has rapidly moved on from just posting images. Just like every other channel you need to be doing more to really make this one work for your business. You want to connect, engage, sell, promote and make the time you spend on Instagram worth your while and seek maximum ROIs.

Here are few tips on how to improve your Instagram strategy.

Hashtags##

Hashtags – be sure to use them in your posts – By using just around 6-12 you won’t come across as spammy. overload and people will be put off! (you can use up to 30)

it would be useful to see what your competitors are hash tagging and draw some influence

do some tests with 3/7/12 etc and see which posts come out top!

Competitions

Set up a competition or a free giveaway – people are always motivated with freebies! Its a good tactic for you gain more exposure and followers.

Stories

You will have noticed this feature by now as it appears on the top of your insta feed.Fairly new but everyone and brands are using this to their advantage and so much YOU!

This feature allows it users to upload and write over unfiltered pictures and videos that disappear after 24 hours.

HOW TO- Look for the + button on the top right side of your feed, you can also launch stories by swiping right from your main screen. Then tap the circle button on the bottom of the screen to take a new pic or tap and hold to take a video. Then click edit to play about with its fun features.

Tap done to save and the Share!

Use Stories to promote a sale, showcase your services, introduce new team mates, show some personality and push your BRAND!

Profile Links

To get round that you can add a link to your profile description , so this might be for your website, a sign up for a newsletter, or blog.

Mix it up every few days, you can change your bio link at any time and use a call to action to drive traffic to that link.

Banner Images

Keep up with a display image trend that been around for a while but is a good way to present an image a bit differently. If done correctly it can have great results.

Might be good to only keep this tatic on special occasions and not overuse i.e. product launch, announcement.

To create banner images you can use mobile apps such as Giant Square or Banner Pic. These apps allow you to easily upload the photo you wish to post as a grid, divide it up into several segments and upload them to your Instagram gallery.

Instagram Ads

One of the best ways to up your engagement and followers. Here you have to spend a little bit on money to make some money.

Facebook is the parent company of Instagram, so in order to create an Instagram ad, you will need to use the Power Editor feature through Facebook. Here’s a great video on exactly how to set up your Instagram ad.

To create an Instagram ad in Power Editor:

Click the Manage Ads tab at the top of the page.

Click on the left side of the page and then click Create Ad.

On the Create Ad page, choose whether to use an existing campaign or create a new campaign.

Enter a name for the ad and click Create.

Finally,

Reply to your comments

If people comment on your posts, at least provide them with the courtesy of a reply. Otherwise it may look like you just don’t care. It’s can also be a reflection of your brand and customer service.

So, why not try out a few of these tactics and see if your Instagram receives more engagement.